Reserves Grand Final Preview

WAFL Grand Final day at Optus Stadium this Sunday begins with Swan Districts' Reserves attempting to win a first premiership since 2006 by taking on West Perth in the decider.

Swan Districts did occupy top spot on the reserves ladder for a large portion of the 2023 season before finishing second ahead of beating Subiaco by 23 points in the qualifying final.

It was then a supremely impressive 26-point win in the second semi-final against West Perth to earn the week off and move straight into this Sunday's Grand Final also against the Falcons at Optus Stadium.

The game will begin at 9.20am on Sunday morning with Swan Districts attempting to win a first reserves premiership since 2006 and fifth overall to go with the triumphs of 1946, 1964 and 1979.

Swans reserves coach Greg Harding has already led the club to a colts premiership back in 2008 and spent seven seasons in charge of the league side, but he has done a terrific job in charge of the reserves side in 2023.

Harding is proud of the way his group has pulled together and acknowledges it's never easy at reserves level with the mix you have with colts players getting an opportunity, league players dropping back, and then a group of players continuing to develop.

However, he couldn't be happier with the mix this Swan Districts team has heading into the Grand Final starting with the leadership provided from the likes of Jacob Sideris, Kristian Caporn, Max Chipper, Matthew Germs and Will Collins.

You then have midfield guns Jiah Reidy, Prendergast Medallist Mitch Bain, Ben Hewett and Lawson Humphries, and then some exciting young players Lewis Zolnier-Owens, Tom Smith and Bailey Jenkin.

All in all, Harding couldn’t be happier with the mix he has and with the way they've come together for the one cause.

"It is a good mix we’ve got," Harding said.

"We have a couple of older fellas there in Jacob Sideris and Kristian Caporn who are getting on a little bit, but they just give you that little bit of maturity and big bodies, and play footy in the right way which gives you a bit of strength.

"Then you get the exuberance from kids who are 19 years of age like young Tommy Smith and Lewy Zolnier-Owens who are coming up from the colts and loving playing footy even though they are still colts aged kids. Then we’ve got kids who are knocking on the door of senior footy or who have AFL potential as well."

While Swan Districts were terrific in the second semi-final to beat West Perth to book in the Grand Final spot, Harding is expecting a significantly tougher challenge from the Falcons on Sunday with the premiership on the line.

West Perth is another team with a good blend of youth and experience in their reserves team, but to have someone like AFL and WAFL premiership player Mark Hutchings is a significant boost for them.

However, that's where Harding is thankful to have someone like Jiah Reidy with 64 WAFL games of experience behind him to hopefully go head to head with Hutchings in Sunday's Grand Final.

"We’re really lucky and you don’t get into reserves grand finals unless you do have some guys dropping back from league footy and that’s what we’ve had with the depth at the club pretty strong," Harding said.

"So we’ve had some kids drop back and then we’ve got someone like Jiah Reidy. He brings a big body for us and it’s similar to West Perth having Hutchings and Jiah allows us to match him in a way.

"It sets us up for a really good game against West Perth because I thought we probably in my mind just ambushed them a little bit in that second semi-final early to get on top, and then we were able to control them from that point.

"I watched their prelim last week and I thought they were super aggressive and combative, and that’s what we’ll get again this week in a grand final. I think it will be a much tougher hit out for our boys than the second semi-final."